Sanction-stricken Chelsea's manager Thomas Tuchel would be perfect fit for Man Utd - Jamie Carragher
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 10/03/2022 at 15:36 GMT
With its owner sanctioned, important players likely forced towards the exit and facing a transfer ban, Chelsea’s future is uncertain. Man Utd, and Ralf Rangnick, should take advantage of the turmoil to land their perfect manager and pry Thomas Tuchel away from the club, says Jamie Carragher.
Thomas Tuchel the manager / head coach of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Burnley and Chelsea at Turf Moor on March 5, 2022 in Burnley, United Kingdom.
Image credit: Getty Images
Manchester United should capitalise on Chelsea’s crisis and take the opportunity to recruit Thomas Tuchel, said Jamie Carragher.
Writing in the Telegraph, the former Liverpool player wrote that every chief executive at a top club looking for a change of manager will be closely scrutinising Tuchel’s mood and public comments as the current season draws to a close.
The west London club’s future is far from clear after the UK government announced sanctions on its owner, Roman Abramovich.
Abramovich put the club up for sale last week, but his assets - including the club - are now frozen. Under the sanctions the club is forced to operate under a general licence that limits it to purely footballing operations.
The club is not able to extend or renew contracts, is prevented from selling tickets to matches and is effectively subject to a transfer ban until the sanctions are lifted.
Commentator and pundit Carragher said Chelsea’s situation hands Manchester United an option they could not have foreseen.
In his piece for the Telegraph, he said: “Manchester United have been presented with the ideal opportunity to recruit the manager who should be their number one target: Thomas Tuchel.
“Yes, it will seem a predatory move – taking advantage of Chelsea’s crisis – but from United and Tuchel’s perspective the more you consider it, the more of a no-brainer it is.”
The sanctions in place on Abramovich and Chelsea leave the club in a precarious position, with no clarity on its future or a timescale of when the sanctions will be lifted.
“Tuchel, like everyone else at Stamford Bridge, will have no idea what the future holds at his current club,” he said. “No-one can offer him any assurances about how the squad will look at the start of next season given the club’s sale is on hold.
“No manager wants to be working amid such a background of uncertainty. If he gets the chance to leave for a club of United’s stature, he must take it.”
Since joining Chelsea in January of 2021, Tuchel has steered the club to every major final and claimed the Champions League title for only the second time in the club’s history.
He took over a club that was struggling under Frank Lampard and his impact was immediate, steadying things at the back and making the team far less susceptible to counterattacks.
It won the German manager the title of Fifa coach of the year along with three trophies for the club.
Last month, he added the Club World Cup, the one trophy Chelsea had previously failed to claim under Abramovich’s tenure.
Manchester United have continued to lack direction and cohesion. Their current manager, Ralf Rangnick, took over after the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjær but was never likely to manage beyond the end of the season. Instead he will likely remain at the club for a further two years in a consultancy role.
Carragher points to the man already in the job as a reason to back Tuchel as the next. Rangnick handed Tuchel, then only 27 years old, the role of head coach of Stuttgart’s under-15 side in 2000, having met him when in charge of German side, Ulm.
Rangnick is playing caretaker of Manchester United while looking for a long term replacement. Carragher has pointed out that the man already in his phonebook will most likely get the call.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement